


Not Alone

by Ultimate_Fangirl_0312



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mute Akira AU, Persona 5 Protagonist Has A Palace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-27
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24404122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultimate_Fangirl_0312/pseuds/Ultimate_Fangirl_0312
Summary: Akira Kurusu has lived an unordinary life, stealing the hearts of evil adults and at the same time trying to be a regular high schooler who was labelled as a criminal. But when it all comes to an end so soon, Akira is afraid of letting go of his new life, not wanting to go back to the past. Can Akira's friends help him in the ways he has done to them, or will Akira forever be trapped by his fears?
Comments: 19
Kudos: 191





	1. Beginning of the End

Akira Kurusu was very much bored in his room, lying on his bed. Being assumed dead was not fun, as he had to stay home most days, and without school, there wasn't much to do. Especially since everyone else was busy with school or something else. Sure, Morgana and Futaba were around, but otherwise, there wasn't much to do. So he decided to text the group chat to see if anyone was on.

_Akira: Anyone on?_

_Ryuji: Ah, hey dude! I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on_

_Ann: Hah! You wish_

_Yusuke: I'm sure pretty much everyone is on_

_Makoto: Despite that majority of us should be in school_

_Futaba: Oh don't be such a stick in the mud Makoto! Akira must be bored_

_Akira: You can say that again_

_Haru: That is fair, you're pretty much stuck at home_

_Futaba: That's my life_

_Ryuji: And we still don't get how you do it_

_Akira: How're classes? For the ones in school_

_Futaba: Hey!_

_Ryuji: Boring as hell!_

_Ann: Agreed_

_Makoto: Maybe if you focused, it would be interesting_

_Yusuke: That is true when one is focused, especially on painting, they are much more interested_

_Haru: I agree_

_Ryuji: Alright alright, we should get off before I get caught_

_Ann: I agree_

_Akira: See you guys later_

_Haru: Have a good day Akira_

_Futaba: See ya!_

Akira sighed laying in his bed, thinking about the future. Things will soon be over, Shido will confess to his crimes and the Phantom Theif thing will be done. Unfortunately, he didn't realize he hadn't thought about him leaving soon and going home...

 _"Home...."_ Akira thought to himself, as memories flashed before his eyes

_"Goddamnit brat! I'll sue!"_

_"I can't believe you did this to us! You already made us look bad!"_

_"You're a disappointment to our family!"_

_"Hey look, it's the mute delinquent"_

_"You'll be surprised that someone so quiet is a criminal"_

Akira quickly sat up, which startled Mona, who was in his lap. "You okay Akira?" Morgana asked, stretching.

Akira took a couple of breaths and signed to him. "Yeah, I'm fine, just thinking".

"Well you have tons of time to think, so no rush," Morgana said.

Akira nodded and smiled but in his mind, so much was worrying him. "Hey Morgana, I'm going to go out for a bit, wanna join me?" Akira signed to him.

"Sounds good! It's been a while since we went out." Mona said as Akira smiled as he got his bag and headed out with Morgana stuffed in his bag.


	2. Nightmare

Later that night, Morgana was suddenly woken up from his place in Akira's lap when a leg smacked right into his face. "Ow...what the..?" Morgana said seeing Akira tossing in his sleep, as that worried him. Was he having a nightmare?

_Meanwhile, in Akira's nightmare, Akira was trying to block out the voices of all the people telling him horrible things._

_"You're such a disappointment. First, you refuse to talk, making us look bad then you get into this mess!"_

_"Why can't you mind your own business??"_

_"Look, it's the new delinquent."_

_"I heard he's a criminal"_

_"Are we safe with him around?"_

_"No wonder your parents sent you out here, they just wanted to get rid of you"_

_"S-Stop it..." Akira tried to block out the sounds of all the voices around him._

_"He's a monster!"_

_"I bet his family is so disappointed in him"_

_"Don't remind me! I know!" Akira tried to say but nothing came out. He didn't need a reminder, that he was a monster, just some loser. As he turned around, he was faced with an exact copy of him, with golden eyes._

_"Now that everything's over, everyone will forget about you. You'll have to return to that monster of a place you call home. Back to the abuse, the bullying. You will always be alone" The Golden-eye Akira said._

"Akira!" Morgana yelled, hoping to wake Akira up from his nightmare. Akira jolted up, as he breathed heavily. He saw Morgana on his lap, awake. "O-Oh...did I wake you, Morgana? Sorry.." Akira signed to him.

"It's fine. Are you okay? You looked like you were having a pretty bad nightmare" Morgana said.

"Nah...I'm fine, it wasn't anything too big" Akira signed as he checked his phone. It was around 3 am. "You should go back to sleep" Akira signed.

"Yeah, you too," Morgana said, curling into his lap as Akira lied down. While Morgana did fall asleep, Akira couldn't help but lie in bed, the thought of his nightmare keeping him awake.

The next morning, around 8 am, Morgana, woke up. He saw that Akira was already awake, getting dressed in his everyday clothes. Morgana noticed he looked exhausted, as some bags were forming under his eyes.

"Did you even go back to sleep?" Morgana asked.

"Well, not for a while, but I'm okay" Akira signed.

"Well you can sleep in for a bit longer, we have all this free time, why are you getting ready so early?" Morgana said.

"Well, I wanted to get some things done. I might as well be productive if I can" Akira said as he got up.

"Always so focused, that's our leader!" Morgana said with a smile.

"Leader...I can't let myself show any weakness...I need to be strong," Akira thought as they headed downstairs, Sojiro already setting up shop.

"Ah morning," Sojiro said. "Want anything specifically before customers come in?" He asked.

"Just a cup of coffee didn't get much sleep last night" Akira signed to him as Sojiro nodded making him a cup of coffee.

"No breakfast?" Morgana asked.

"Not really hungry" Akira signed back as he got his coffee and began to drink it.

Morgana was a bit worried but trusted Akira enough that he would be fine. He had his friends, and they would know if something was up.


	3. Mementos

In a couple of days, everyone noticed something was off with Akira, not just Morgana. Akira would only eat if he was with someone, otherwise, he would just drink coffee. And the nightmares didn't end there, almost every day, Morgana would be woken up by Akira's tossing and turning while he slept. He would look more and more tired each day, and when someone commented on it, he would dismiss it as saying "He was fine".

"Hey, is it just me, or does something seem off with Akira?" Ryuji said sitting with Ann, Makoto and Haru at lunch.

"It's not just you, I'm pretty sure everyone has noticed it," Makoto said.

"It's very worrying. I always ask him if he's getting sleep, and he says "sometimes". And he has gotten skinnier" Haru noted.

"Yeah, is it because he's at home?" Ann said.

"That might be the reason, he mentions that he does go out once in a while to do a couple things, but otherwise he's at home," Makoto said.

"Maybe he needs to let off some steam...I know!" Ryuji said, getting an idea. "Why don't we all go to Mementos? It could help him let off and relax and fight off some shadows!"

"That sounds good, let's see if he wants to," Ann said, getting her phone out.

_Ann: Hey Akira, we were thinking about going to Mementos today, wAnn join us?_

Akira felt his phone ding while reading a book as he saw the message on his phone. Going to Mementos did sound nice.

_Akira: Yeah, sounds good, is everyone okay with today after school?_

_Futaba: Yep!_

_Yusuke: I'm free as well_

_Ryuji: Then it's settled, meet up at the normal spot and we can all go to Mementos_

_Haru: Sounds lovely!_

Akira smiled, it would be nice to spend time with his friends, even if it wouldn't last much longer.

After school, they all soon arrived at the normal spot, teleporting to Mementos. "Alright, let's go," Joker said as everyone nodded. Morgana turned into his normal bus as everyone got in, Queen taking the wheel as they headed off.

It didn't take too long for them to encounter a Shadow, as Joker, Panther, Fox and Skull were ready to fight, the others on backup in case.

"Alright, there are 2 shadows, take them down, guys!" Oracle said analyzing the 2 shadows for strengths and weaknesses. "They seem fairly weak, so don't waste too much power on them!"

Joker nodded, deciding to opt-out for a physical attack, but missed, nearly tripping on himself from how dizzy he was.

"Joker, you good?" Skull asked.

"Yeah! You go ahead and attack" Joker signed as the other each took their turns, defeating the shadow before the shadow could even attack.

"Nice one guys!" Oracle said as Joker was holding his head. Everything was just spinning for him.

"You sure you're alright Joker?" Queen said.

"Yeah, just tripped by accident" Joker said as they kept going.

During their trip, Joker kept slipping up, in some way. If it was missing an attack or getting hit by an attack that was easily dodgeable.

"Are you sure you are okay Joker?" Oracle asked on their ride to the boss.

"Yeah, I don't know, I just feel distracted" Joker signed.

"Well don't be distracted now, we have a boss incoming!" Oracle said as they arrived at a huge door, entering it.

They were soon in the battle with a giant shadow.

"Alright guys, I'm analyzing weaknesses and strengths...it seems weak to fire and lighting!" Oracle said. "But be careful, it seems like it has a huge attack being charged up.

Joker used Lillith to inflict fire damage, and Skull used Captain Kidd to inflict thunder. It continued like this.

"Guys defend yourselves, there's a big attack coming!" Oracle said as everyone got ready to block.

Joker suddenly had a vision, gripping his head.

 _"You are useless, you can't even fight properly. What kind of leader are you?? No wonder they will forget about you once you leave"_ The voice in Joker's head said.

The boss charged and attacked with a full-on attack.

"Joker look out!" Panther said but he was hit directly on with the attack, and he wasn't blocking, causing a lot of damage, knocking him out cold.

"Joker!" Fox said.

"Noir, Mona, get him out of there! Queen, take his place!" Oracle said.

Noir and Mona got Joker out of the battle so that Oracle could heal them while the others finished off the boss on their own.

"Is he okay??" Skull asked after they finished the boss.

"Yes, he is fine, still unconscious. We should head back now" Noir said with everyone agreeing. They headed back to the entrance of Mementos as Joker started to wake up.

He was very much confused when he woke up to everyone around him.

"Oh thank god you're okay!" Ann said.

"What..happened?" He signed confused.

"You were knocked out by the boss so we finished it off and took you back to the entrance," Fox explained.

"I see...I'm sorry guys" Akira signed.

"Don't be sorry, we're glad you're okay," Futaba said.

"Glad? Hah! What a joke. You never cared, why would you start now?" The voice in Akira's head said as Akira groaned, gripping his head.

"Are you alright?" Haru asked.

"Yeah, headache, we should get going" Akira signed, lying.

"Agreed," Queen said as they all teleported out of Mementos.

"Make sure he gets rest, okay Morgana?" Ann said.

"Anything for you Lady Ann!" Morgana said as everyone couldn't help but chuckle.

Soon everyone went on their own ways while Akira headed home to relax a bit.

"Are you sure you're okay? You were off during the entire trip of Mementos. Missing attacks and getting hit easily. That's not like you" Morgana said.

 _"And you know me?? What do you know?!"_ The voice in Akira's head said.

"I know, sorry. I'll try to do better next time" Akira signed to him.

Morgana nodded but knew something was off.


	4. Hiding the Truth

A day later, Makoto, Ryuji, Ann and Haru were all talking at lunch and just relaxing. They didn't think much of Akira's mess up the day before.

"Hey, do you think a persona user could have a palace?" Ryuji said, fiddling around with the Meta Navigator app.

"Didn't Morgana say something that they couldn't?" Ann said.

"I mean, it would be interesting. How would that work?" Haru asked.

"I would assume it meant that the user's persona would disappear, wouldn't it?" Haru said. "What would you ask?"

"Like what if one of us had a palace? Like Akira, or me??" Ryuji said on the Navigator app.

"You think our leader, Akira Kursuru would have a palace?? Ryuji stop joking around" Ann said.

**_Target Found_ **

Everyone went silent when that familiar voice responded from Ryuji's phone.

"D-Did...it responds to Akira's name..?" Ryuji said.

"I think it did.." Haru said.

All of them looked worriedly at one another. What did this mean? Ann agreed that making a private group chat without Akira would be safer so they could talk about this.

_Chat - Emergency Private Chat (Don't Add Akira)_

_Futaba: What is this??_

_Yusuke: I'm not sure either, do any of you know?_

_Ann: Yeah, I made it, because we need to talk, without Akira_

_Futaba: Without our Leader? But why??_

_Makoto: Because this is about him. Futaba, is Morgana with you?_

_Futaba: Yeah he is, why?_

_Yusuke: I agree, this is confusing. Did something happen?_

_Haru: You could say that. Today Ryuji was fiddling around with the Meta Navigator app and we accidentally said Akira's name, and it said: "Target found"._

_Futaba: What???_

_Yusuke: What does this mean?_

_Makoto: It means Akira has a palace, it's clear. We didn't think it was possible. Can you ask Morgana about it?_

_Futaba: K one sec._

_Futaba: Okay Mona said it is possible, but that means Akira can't use his Persona, and he has some form of desire._

_Ann: But what kind of desire would Akira have? He's our leader, he's not like that._

_Yusuke: I believe we should meet about this in person._

_Haru: I agree, this is something we're going to have to figure out._

_Makoto: The only place I see us being able to meet is Leblanc, but we need to make sure Akira isn't there. Futaba, can you check with Sojiro-san that he isn't home?_

_Futaba: Got it._

_Futaba: Good news! He won't be around. Sojiro said he wanted to go out to do a couple of things and that he might be late!_

_Makoto: Alright, let us meet there. After school._

_Yusuke: That sounds good._

After school, everyone soon arrived at Leblanc, Akira was already gone before they came so it was good.

"Alright, let this secret meeting begin!" Futaba said.

"I still can't believe it though, it was just an accident yet it was big," Ann said.

"Still, it was good we found this out. It might be more important than we think" Makoto said.

The others began talking, but they didn't realize that Akira was coming home early. Surprisingly, things didn't take as long. He got some books, some DVDs and a couple of other things that he could do while he was at home to help his stats. When he arrived at Leblanc, he heard voices inside, familiar ones too.

"Is...someone here?" Akira thought as he peeked through the window. He saw all his friends, chatting about something.

"Why are they here? Are they having a meeting, without me?" Akira thought. He was hurt at the thought of that. He checked his phone to see if they messaged him for a meeting, but there wasn't anything of the sort, so he was confused. What was going on? He decided to listen in on their conversations. He couldn't hear much but he heard the words "palace" and "Phantom Thieves". There was no doubt, they were talking about the Phantom Thief business. But why without him?

 _"They don't need you anymore. Now that you're leaving, they can handle everything on their own. You're useless to them"_ The voice in Akira's head said.

Akira shook the thoughts off, they were becoming more and more real. He couldn't take it, he needed to confront them. Akira used the key he got from Sojiro to unlock the door as everyone jumped, seeing the door open.

"A-Akira!" Ann said with shock. According to what they knew, he should be back for an hour or so.

"Care to explain what's going on?" Akira signed to his group with a disappointed look.

"Let us explain Akira..." Makoto said as Akira shook his head.

"No need to. I heard enough. You clearly have another target but because I'm leaving, you decided you don't need me to do anything. You can handle things on your own" Akira signed.

"What!? No, it's not like that" Futaba said.

"You don't need to lie to me, I understand. I'm going to my room, let me know when you're leaving so I can lock up" Akira signed while going past the others to his room and closing the door before anyone else could say anything. This left the group in dead silence.

"That....did not go well," Yusuke said.

"No shit. He's really mad at us. I never have seen him that mad" Ryuji said.

"It's best if we leave before we make him more upset," Haru said as they all agreed. They agreed to meet up somewhere else to not get Akira mad again and to keep in contact through the private group. Ryuji agreed to text them that they were leaving.

Akira got a message on his phone as he looked at it.

_Ryuji: Hey dude, we're leaving now, so you can lock the door. We're sorry for not telling you, but it's for your own good. We hope you aren't upset. See you soon._

Akira signed as he got up to lock the door, and decided to make a cup of coffee. He couldn't believe that his friends didn't trust him anymore. What did he do wrong?

_"They hate you... They can't trust you anymore. You were always a loser, and now they see that"._

Akira gripped his head. Why...?


	5. Jailhouse

After that day, Akira was really showing signs of something going on. He didn't come out of his room at all, unless it was to go out, and he didn't go out for long even. He didn't respond to anyone's messages anymore. Everyone knew they had to figure this out quickly. They met up in a different location.

"Has anyone tried to talk to Akira?" Yusuke asked.

"I tried, but he didn't respond," Ryuji said.

"Me too...Mona's been at my house so he hasn't seen him" Futaba said.

"I figured he would be too mad to speak with me after that day, so I stayed at Futaba's place," Morgana said.

"We need to figure this out," Makoto said with everyone agreeing.

"We have his name, we need a place and a distortion," Haru said thinking.

"Hey, I was thinking about it with Morgana," Futaba said. "And I have an idea, he's been acting like something is holding him back," She said.

"Holding him back?" Ryuji said.

"Yeah, he's not telling us his true feelings...it's like he's confined to something," Morgana said.

"Hmmm..how about like a Prison?" Haru said.

_No result found_

"Confinement center?" Makoto suggested.

_No result found_

"Jailhouse?" Yusuke suggested.

_Result Found_

"Alright, now we need a distortion," Morgana said.

"It has to do with a jailhouse, so prisoner?" Ann suggested.

_No result found_

"Inmate?" Futaba suggested.

_Target found, beginning navigation_

While the others were doing that, Akira was in his room as he couldn't take the thoughts clouding his head, he needed to clear up his thoughts, and to do so, he decided to go to Mementosby himself.

He teleported in using the app as he arrived, but his clothes didn't change.

"What the..? Why am I still in my normal clothes?" Akira thought as he tried to summon his persona but failed.

"What's going on?! Where's my Persona...?" Akira thought as he tried multiple times, but couldn't. He fell onto his knees, not understanding why it wasn't working.

 _"Now you lost the only thing that gave you a relation to them. Now your friends are leaving you and you lost your Persona. You're useless to them. Now there's no reason for you to be around"_ The voices in Akira's head told him as Akira gripped his head. Was it really the end??

Akira let out a sigh, getting up as he teleported back. He had accepted his fate at this point and knew there was no changing it.

Back with the others, who had just arrived in front of a jailhouse, it was fairly big as there was a guard in front of it, in the form of a shadow. They were already in their Phantom Thief clothes.

"What?? Akira already sees us as a threat!" Panther said.

"Most likely due to the incident at Leblanc the other day," Fox said.

Oracle sighed. It was their fault that happened.

"We can't do anything if we dwell on it now. We need to move on and help him," Queen said. "We first need to get through the guard," She said as they headed off.

"Halt! Who goes there?" The guard said.

"We want to...see an inmate," Noir explained. "Akira Kurusu?"

"He had accepted his sentence, so no-one is allowed to see him," The guard said.

"Damnit.," Skull said as Queen got an idea.

"Hey, I got an idea," Queen said to the others before stepping forward.

"My name is Makoto Niijima, I'm the sister of Sae Niijima, the prosecutor. We're here to see him on her behalf" She explained. "She needs to finalize some details with him about his sentence".

"I see, then go ahead, he is the third hallway to the right," The Guard said as he let them in.

"Wow...I can't believe that worked," Morgana said as they headed inside.

"Nice job Queen!" Oracle said.

"Thank you, now let's go," Queen said as they headed to that all. The building seemed to be made of two floors, the first floor had different hallways with cells, and the top floor was unknown at the moment.

"They said he was in the third hallway to the right," Panther said as they headed down that hall. There were 5 cells, two on each side and one at the end of the hall facing them.

"Which cell is he in...?" Skull said, looking through the first one on the right as his eyes widened.

"Woah what is it??" Noir asked.

"It looks like Akira, but he is with someone..." Skull said.

"I think these are memories..." Oracle said analyzing it. "These cells each have a memory of his. We should look at these as they might help us" Oracle said.

They all nodded, surrounding the first cell as they watched the memory being played.

_In the memory, it showed two adults, assuming Akira's parents, and Akira, who looked scared. Akira was being yelled at by his parents._

_"How could you do this?! You can never mind your own business" The woman said. "Now you have this criminal record?! What would people say??"_

_Akira attempted to sign something but not before being smacked by his father._

"Akira!" Skull said gripping the jail door.

_"Why won't you speak?! You can't you?!" The man said. "First you can't speak now you have a criminal record?! What kind of useless son are you?!" He said as Akira was shaking._

The memory soon disappeared as everyone just stood there in shock.

"That was Akira's parents....Akira had that kind of life at home..?" Ann said.

"How did we never see this..?" Haru said.

"These...all must be memories that are traumatic for Akira...each cell must hold a different memory," Oracle said.

"Then...let us move on to the next one," Queen said, all of them bracing themselves for the worse.

They moved on to the next one, where the memory played.

_In the memory, there were two guards and Akira looked like he was being beaten up. It seemed to be the Interrogation Room._

_"Confess you, dirty criminal," One of the guards said, kicking Akira who looked so beaten already, hands cuffed._

_"Just leave it, we got the stuff," Another Guard said holding a needle with some liquid. "This will make him confess" The guard went to him, jabbing the needle into his neck as he let out a pained gasp, but with no sound at all as the liquid was injected into him, as the guard pulled it out as Akira went limp._

_"Now, tell us, who are you working with?" The first guard asked._

_Akira shook his head, despite being in so much pain._

_"He still won't talk...Guess we'll have to beat it out of you" The Guard said._

_The memory ended as Akira was about to be beaten again._

"My god..." Fox said in shock.

"If Akira was beaten that badly during his interrogation, I would've done something," Queen said. She felt horrible he had to go through that.

"Why wouldn't he tell us about this..?" Noir asked herself.

"I...wish we knew, we need to find out," Oracle said as they moved to the third cell.

_The memory showed a bunch of boys beating up Akira. They were all wearing the same school uniform, but it didn't seem like a Shujin School uniform_

_"C'mon you mute freak! Talk!" One of the boys said, kicking him right in the stomach as Akira gripped it. He was on the ground, his glasses off to the side, broken_

_"Are you sure he can talk?" One of the boys said_

_"Yeah, he can. I heard that he just chooses to be mute because he's a wimp" The boy who kicked Akira said. "C'mon guys, let's go"_

_The boys all left, leaving the beaten Akira alone in the alleyway. He couldn't scream for help, as he laid there, helpless and in pain._

_The memory soon ended._

"Akira...can speak?" Noir asked.

"He told us it was an accident when he lost his voice, but is that true...?" Mona said.

"Maybe this memory might help us," Oracle said as they approached the fourth cell.

_The memory showed Shujin Academy as Akira was walking down the hall on his phone while students stared and whispered things about him._

_"That's the new kid right??"_

_"I heard he came late on his first day, and with Sakamoto-kun. He truly is a criminal, probably doing drugs with him."_

_"He's done it all, drugs, alcohol, and more."_

_"Watch out, he might be quiet but he won't hesitate to fight you."_

_"Wonder how his parents feel about him."_

_Akira clearly was disturbed at the voices as he continued out of the building_

_The memory ended._

"Akira...," Noir said.

"I knew he was bullied when he came here, but I didn't think it was so bad," Queen said

"Alright, this should be the final memory. Hopefully, it puts things together" Panther said as they headed to the final cell at the end of the hall.

"Wait, one sec guys, this cell looks different, I'm getting different readings from it," Oracle said.

In the cell, it wasn't a memory, but a boy. Black messy hair with tainted cell clothes, black and white. His hands were cuffed and his legs were chained to the wall.

"Akira?!" Skull said recognizing him almost immediately.

Akira looked up, he had golden eyes which caused everyone to go on guard.

"I-It's his shadow!" Oracle said.

"Wait...guys?! How did you get here...?" Akira said which threw everyone off guard.

"He can talk?!" Mona said.

"Well...I am Akira's shadow, not him. So I can speak" Shadow Akira said.

"What are you doing here chained up? Your his shadow, shouldn't you be running the palace?" Makoto asked.

"Well...you aren't wrong, I am his Shadow, but this is a different palace...Akira is a special guy, you know it" The Shadow said. "Akira can use multiple personas, allowing him to have multiple shadows of himself."

"Multiple shadows? So there's more of you" Yusuke said.

"He only has two, Shadow Joker, and me," Akira said. "His distortions are split between the both of us," Akira said. "Now, before you continue asking me all these questions, let me ask you some questions. What are you doing here?" Akira asked

"We're here to help Akira, we saw all the memories, why would Akira not tell us this?" Panther said

"Simple really, as you can see, I'm bound to this cell. This is how Akira sees part of himself. He's alone and trapped, he feels like no-one can save him and that he will be a prisoner to abuse forever" Akira said.

"Does he not trust us?" Noir asked

"Not that at all, he truly thinks you're his friends. For the first time in his life, he had a similar goal to others. However, he's afraid. Soon he has to leave Shibuya, and with that, all of you, and back to his home. He knows that there's no point in maintaining his friendship, as it soon will be broken" Akira said.

"That's not true! We're going to be there for him. We'll keep in touch with him, we'll be there when he needs us" Skull said.

"If only Akira could realize that....Next, even if you are here, you are here without Akira's knowledge. He wouldn't be willing to let you steal his heart if you continue like this" Akira said. "You need to tell him," Akira said.

"But what if he doesn't want us to steal his heart?" Oracle said.

"That is true...but keeping it a secret like this won't make it any easier," Akira said. "And finally, I assume you want me to tell you where the treasure is," Akira said

"Do you know where it is?" Yusuke asked

"Not exactly, I was bound here for a long time, but I know Joker will have it on the floor above, in his room," Akira said.

Queen got an idea as she pulled out a lockpick and began unlocking the cell.

"W-What are you doing?!" Akira said

"We want to help you, and this is the first way we can," Queen said, unlocking the cell as the chains around Akira's arms and legs disappeared when the door was unlocked.

"I'm free..." Akira said as he smiled. "I...know you'll be the one to free Akira. I believe in all of you" He said.

"Thanks," Oracle said

"Now, you should go locate the treasure upstairs. Be warned, Shadow Joker isn't like me, he's the stronger distortion of the both of us, and more stubborn. You will have to fight him when the time comes to steal Akira's treasure. But I believe you can do it, we have seen you come this far, and you all have grown strong." Akira said

"Thank you Akira," Noir said with a smile.

"We won't let you down," Panther said.

"Alright guys, let's go!" Makoto said as the group headed off, leaving Shadow Akira there as he couldn't help but smile.

"I hope they can do it..." Akira said

Meanwhile, the others have found the stairs and headed to the second floor. It had a single room at the end of the hallways.

"I can sense another Shadow, similar to Shadow Akira, but much stronger. This is it" Oracle said.

"Alright, let us do this," Yusuke said as Makoto opened the door.

The room was beautiful, it was like a palace, with a chandelier above them, windows on the sides with beautiful curtains. The marble floor was so shiny you could see a reflection in it.

"Woah..." Noir said impressed, but before anyone could continue admiring the room, they heard a familiar voice.

"Well well, I sensed someone else here, yet I didn't expect it to be you," A familiar said from behind the group as everyone turned around to see Shadow Joker. He looked just like Joker, outfit and all, but those golden eyes are the only thing that made them different.

"You're Shadow Joker, aren't you?" Skull asked.

"Oh, you do know! That's good, that means I won't need to explain it. It also means you met Shadow Akira on the floor below, and that he hasn't warned you guys" Akira said with a disappointed look.

"Warn us?" Queen asked.

"Yes, telling you that this is a massive invasion of Akira's privacy and that. He still wants to hold on to that hope that you guys can save him" Shadow Joker sighed.

"We are, that's why we're here. We don't care that he warned us, we're his friends! Skull said

"Heh, always funny as ever Skull. Well if Shadow Akira did warn you but you failed to listen, that means you really are determined. As much as I would like to end it now, I rather see things play out" Shadow Joker said, and in a blink of an eye, disappeared, leaving the group in shock.

"Cmon Phantom Thieves, you secured the route to the treasure, now send that calling card. Then when you come back to steal our treasure, I'll remind you again that there's no hope for us." Shadow Joker's voice called out.

"We should head back then..." Panther said.

"I agree, we need to prepare the calling card," Oracle said as they all headed back, now securing the treasure route.

They soon arrived back in the real world, where they left.

"How should we confront Akira with his calling card?" Yusuke asked.

"We shouldn't draw attention to it, maybe we can disguise it with something else," Ann said. "Oooo! I have an idea, we can pretend we're just giving him an apology gift for the other day"

"That sounds great, let's see what Akira says," Ryuji said as they got their phones out.

_Ann: Hey Akira, are you on? Again, we all want to say we're sorry for leaving you out. We promise you it's nothing related to Mementos. We just needed to chat about something. We want to make it up to you, and we all want to hang out at your place. We can just relax, have snacks, and talk, like always. How does this Sunday sound?_

Akira was at home, lying in bed after the incident in Mementos. He felt his phone vibrate as he looked at the message on their group chat from Ann.

"Should I...? What if they knew about my Persona, what would they say then?" Akira thought as he sighed. He decided to agree, he trusted them too much, and he needed a reason to get the voices out of his head.

_Akira: Sure, that sounds good_

_Futaba: Awesome!_

_Ryuji: I'll bring some snacks_

_Makoto: I can take care of drinks_

_Akira: Sounds good, see you guys then_

_Futaba: Hey can Mona stay at my place Akira?_

_Akira: Yeah sure_

_Futaba: Thanks!_

Akira smiled a bit, some of the thoughts going away, as he relaxed a bit. Maybe things were going to be okay.


	6. Calling Card

Sunday came around fairly quickly. Ryuji finished the calling card and brought it with him in his pocket as everyone met up not too far from Leblanc.

"Ryuji, you have the calling card?" Makoto asked

"Yep, we'll hand it over to him at the end of the day before we all meet up in front of Leblanc to head to his palace," Ryuji said

"Alright, let's do this!" Morgana said as they all walked to Leblanc as Akira was waiting downstairs.

"Hey, Akira! We're all here!" Ann said as Akira smiled. He looked terrible, the bags under his eyes were worse and he looked so much skinner. But no-one decided to point it out. They all headed to Akira's room and just enjoyed themselves. They spent hours snacking, enjoying themselves. Time flew so quickly as the evening approached.

"Awww, it's already time, bummer," Ryuji said.

"Time does fly when you're having fun" Akira signed as everyone smiled.

"Agreed, wish we could spend more time," Makoto said

"It's alright, I'm glad we were able to do this" Akira signed

"Agreed, we should all be going," Yusuke said getting up and stretching.

"Mona's coming to stay with me one more night, is that okay?" Futaba asked

"Of course, you take great care of him. Plus it's nothing much" Akira signed

"You better be sleeping on time Akira!" Morgana said

One by one, everyone went downstairs, but Akira didn't realize they were all meeting up outside. Soon it was just Ryuji and Akira.

"You're not going to follow them?" Akira signed

"Not yet, dude, there's something I have to give you, but you gotta promise to read it once I leave," Ryuji said

Akira was confused, what was this about? "Alright, I promise" Akira signed

Ryuji took the white envelope out of his pocket and handed it to him with a smile. "See you dude!" Ryuji said heading out to meet everyone.

Akira looked at the envelope as it had a seal but was blank. He opened it, as his eyes widened when he pulled out the familiar red, black and white card with the Phantom Thief logo.

"Is this... a joke?" Akira thought as he turned it around to read it

**_To the Leader of the Phantom Thieves, Joker, or better known as Akira Kurusu,_ **

**_For so long, you have used your power to bring people together and help them in any way you can. With this, you have created bonds that cannot be broken. However, behind your smile, you have hidden your own pain and hide your heart away from others, due to the past. But today, that changes. We will steal your distorted desires without fail, and set you free from the chains that bound you for so long._ **

**_From, the Phantom Thieves of Heart_ **

Akira's hands were shaking holding the letter. This was a joke right?! He didn't have a palace, right?! Then he remembered, they met up here to talk about a palace, they were talking about his palace! He quickly realized they were about to head to it, as Akira ran down the stairs and outside, getting caught up in the teleport.

He woke up on the ground in front of the jailhouse, the others not in sight. They must have not seen him get caught in the teleportation and headed inside. Akira got up and headed inside.

"This is my palace...I don't get it..." Akira thought to look around before seeing someone near the staircase. As he got closer, the person looked like him! It was Shadow Akira.

"A-Ah!" Shadow Akira jumped, surprised to see someone, then realizing it was Akira, and the real one, he relaxed. "So, you finally arrived"

"Are you my shadow?" Akira signed to him.

"Yes and no. I am your shadow, but as the wielder of the Wild Card, you have multiple shadows. There are two Shadows, me and Shadow Joker." Shadow Akira explained

"I see...wait, where are the others??" Akira signed with worried

"They have gone upstairs to meet Shadow Joker. Are you planning to stop them?" Shadow Akira asked

"Of course, they...they shouldn't be saving me...I'm their leader" Akira signed with worry.

"Do you not trust them? I am you, and in your heart, you do want to be saved. You are afraid of it, however, and that is going to be their downfall against Shadow Joker. If you don't let them, they will be defeated." Shadow Akira said.

"No..." Akira thought as he ran up the stairs.

"I hope he realizes, they know" Shadow Akira said to himself.

Back upstairs, the others just have entered the main room, where Shadow Joker was waiting, on the throne in the main room.

"Well well well, you came back despite what I said." Shadow Joker said

"We're here to save you, and we aren't going back down if we have to fight, so be it," Panther said

"Well, before you do that, let me ask you something," Shadow Joker said, getting up and approaching the others. "You think stealing my heart will end up the same as Futaba's, right? Wrong. Futaba's palace was created due to anxiety in the heart of her mother's death. Accepting her shadow allowed her to accept the past. However, this is different. Akira soon has to go home and face his trauma again. He will be abused and bullied more. He will have these thoughts again, and with that, a palace. Even if you steal his heart, he will continue to be bound by the abuse he'll face" He said.

This caused the room to be filled with a deadly silence. He was right after Akira left, he would be forced back to his parents and back to being abused, and bullied in school.

"Can...we really do anything?" Noir asked worriedly

Before they could think, the door was opened and there stood Akira.

"Is that...Akira?" Panther asked

"That's the real one," Oracle said analyzing him.

"Ah, you finally decided to join us," Shadow Joker said.

"You guys..." Akira was lost for words to sign, he couldn't believe they did this without him

"Akira, please, let us explain," Makoto said

"Explain that you invaded my privacy and planned to steal my heart?? I can't believe it..." Akira signed

Before anyone could speak, Shadow Joker spoke. "Of course they did, they can't trust you," Shadow Joker said

"T-That's not true!" Mona said

"Who would trust a loser like you?" Shadow Joker said

"No..." Akira thought as she gripped his head, Shadow Joker's voice reminded him of the voices in his head.

"Akira, please..." Noir said

"It's a shame we can't accept help, it would do nothing anyway," Shadow Joker said as he snapped his fingers as Akira's hands and legs were chained as he pulled to the wall, chained against it

"Akira!" Ryuji said

"Now, as fun as this was, it's time to accept reality," Shadow Joker said as dark smoke covered him, turning into a Shadow. "Now, let's finish this" The Shadow said as everyone got into places.

"Get ready guys, here it comes!" Oracle said

Akira was helpless as he was chained there, watching his friends fight.

"You really are helpless," A voice said in Akira's head. It sounded like Shadow Akira. "Because you cannot accept the truth, your friends are suffering" Akira watched his friends get beaten by the Shadow.

"What if nothing changes? Even if they steal my heart, I will leave soon and go back to that home..." Akira thought to himself".

"You think they will let that happen? Look at them!" Shadow Akira's voice said to Akira as he looked at his friends, who were beaten badly.

"Still not done, huh? I figured by now it would've been over" Shadow Joker said

"N-Never!" Panther said. "Akira saved us, he brought us together!"

"Akira was strong for us but we never realized he was suffering inside!" Skull said

"We should've got to know him, and his past too," Yusuke said

"But we were blind, we failed as his friends then, but not now!" Queen said

"Akira, we know you're afraid, but we will be there, we will make sure that you won't go back to that abuse, and that you can be free," Futaba said

"We promise that, as your friends, we won't leave you alone again!" Noir said

"They care...they are waiting to be with you" Shadow Akira said as the illusion of Shadow Akira hovered in front of him

Akira closed his eyes, focusing his strength as he broke the binds on his arms and legs

"It's time to be free!" Shadow Akira said as the figure of him disappeared into dust onto Shadow Joker, weakening him

"W-What the...?" Shadow Joker

"Now's our chance!" Skull said as they all launched one final attack against the Shadow, finishing it off.

The Shadow turned back into Shadow Joker, as he managed to get the others going over to Akira.

"Dude, you okay?" Skull asked

"Yeah..I'm fine, are you guys okay?" Akira signed to him

"Yeah, we are alright," Queen said as they looked at Shadow Joker, who was staring at them

Akira went over to him. "For so long, I've been afraid of going back to the life I had, to not being a Phantom Thief. But I realized now, that it's not going to be like that anymore. I have friends and people who care about me. Things are gonna change, for the better" Akira signed

Shadow Joker couldn't help but smile. "If you believe that, then that is your choice." Shadow Joker said reaching out his hand as Akira shook it, the Shadow disappearing, leaving the treasure of a notebook in its place

"A notebook?" Yusuke asked

"My probation diary. I wrote everything I did each day in here, and it has all the memories we made" Akira signed

"That seems like a fitting treasure" Oracle said

"Alright, nevermind that, we need to get out of here!" Mona said as everyone nodded as they headed back out.

They arrived in outside of Leblanc but the sudden sound of someone hitting the group shocked them as Akira had passed out

"A-Akira!" Haru said as Ryuji and Yusuke helped him out

"He's out cold, he must have been tired," Yusuke said

"We should take him inside to rest," Makoto said as they helped him inside. Sojiro was kinda shocked to see them with a passed out Akira

"Is he okay??" Sojiro asked

"Yeah, just Phantom Thief stuff. He needs to rest" Futaba said

"Alright, if you say so, get him up to his room," Sojiro said as they helped him to Akira to his bed.

"You should stay with him Morgana so when he wakes up, we can talk to him," Ann said

"Of course, I'll make sure he's okay," Morgana said 


	7. Not Alone

The next day, Akira began to wake up, the sun shining down on his face as he felt a familiar weight on his lap as he looked down to see Morgana sleep peacefully. Akira smiled petting him carefully as Morgana began to wake up

"Ah, you're awake," Morgana said with a smile

"Yeah" Akira signed with a smile

"The others said to let them know when you wake up. They want to talk to you" Morgana said, stretching as Akira nodded, getting his phone out and seeing it was around lunchtime.

_Akira: Hey guys, I'm awake, Morgana said you wanted to talk to me_

It didn't take too long for a response back from everyone

_Ann: Oh you're awake, thank god_

_Ryuji: How are you feeling dude?_

_Akira: Better, so what did you want to talk about?_

_Makoto: We know your parents have abused you. We want to file a lawsuit. I already talked to my sister and she's more than willing to do so_

_Futaba: I can hack them for information or threaten them to confess_

_Yusuke: I think that's a bit too far_

_Futaba: For what they did? Hah!_

_Akira: He's right Futaba, but yeah. We can meet up at Leblanc today after school to discuss this_

_Haru: Sounds good, this is something we also need to discuss with Sojiro-san_

_Akira: Sojiro?_

_Makoto: You will still need a guardian to take care of you since your parents will lose custody of you. Sojiro-san would be the best option, after all, he has taken care of you all this time_

_Akira: Well I'll let him know to close the store early today_

_Yusuke: Sounds good, we will see you then_

Akira got up and got ready for the day as he headed downstairs, smelling coffee and curry as Sojiro was doing some chores.

"Ah, you're awake, I thought you'll be sleeping all day at this rate," Sojiro said putting a plate of curry and a cup of coffee in front of him

"Sorry, I was tired. By the way, can you close up shop today early?" Akira signed to the other

"Huh? Why?" Sojiro asked

"The others and I need to talk about something with you" Akira signed to the other. "It's fairly important"

"Well, if you truly say so, I can close the shop up early. But only because you're saying this is important" Sojiro said. "Now eat up, the curry's going get cold"

Akira nodded as he began to eat. After eating, he messaged the others to let them know Leblanc will be available for them after school

Afterschool came around fairly quickly and soon, everyone had arrived, Sojiro changed the sign to "close" to ensure no-one will come in.

"Alright, Akira mentioned you needed to talk to me," Sojiro said

Akira and the others explained what happened in Akira's palace and Akira's past and how they were planning to file a lawsuit again Akira's parents for abuse

"Holy cow..." Sojiro was taking in this information quite slowly, so it still shocked him. "Your parents did seem like normal people when I met them, but if they really were doing this to their son, then I can see why you're mute," Sojiro said. "But what does have to do with me?" Sojiro asked

"Akira's parents will lose custody of Akira, so he will need a permanent guardian at that point. And you being Akira's temporarily guardian, you would be the best fit for him" Makoto said

"I know it seems like a lot, and if you don't want to for free, I can even pay rent" Akira signed to Sojiro but he shook his head

"Consider it done, and you don't need to pay," Sojiro said. "You've been through a lot, and you helped out Futaba too, it's the least I can do. Plus you're like a brother to her at this point"

Futaba blushed with embarrassment. "Sojiro!" She said as everyone chuckled

"Then it's settled, I'll drop by the files for the case when I can and once the lawsuit is settled, we'll get the papers ready for you

Akira couldn't help but smile, things were changing, and for the better. Around a month or so later ** _,_** Akira's parents lost very easily in the lawsuit and Sojiro became Akira's permanent guardian. They moved Akira's stuff out of the attic and made a room available for him at Sojiro's place so he would have a real home.

Akira continued to go to Shujin Academy with his friends, and things were turning out for the better, and he was glad...

That he was not alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the amazing support on this book. It's been amazing to see how many people gave kudos or commented on this book! Another Persona Fanfic is on the way next week, so look forward to it!


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